The past year's favorite rust-headed troubadour brought the emotion during a performance of his spare, guitar-driven "Thinking Out Loud" at the Grammys, with a legendary backing band made up of Questlove on drums, Herbie Hancock on keys and John Mayer on lead guitar.
Grammys 2015: See All of Our Coverage
The song, which reached a peak of No. 2 on the Hot 100, is a saccharine-sweet but forlorn ditty that Sheeran hit perfectly and brought the house to its feet. (Sheeran obviously found a space to calm down between his frazzled red carpet appearance astride Ryan Seacrest and this performance.)